An Overview of Gallup's Presidential Approval Ratings

Gallup has reported on presidential job approval since 1938, and for the vast majority of that history (1938-2008), this reporting was based on reporting job approval ratings from discrete, multiday surveys.

From 2009-2017, Gallup measured presidential approval using daily sampling and interviewing on its tracking survey, reporting the results as three-day rolling averages.

In 2018, Gallup measured presidential job approval using weekly sampling and interviewing on its tracking survey, reporting the results as weekly averages. The 2017 three-day rolling averages were replaced in the trend by 2017 weekly averages to maintain consistency in reporting on Donald Trump's presidency.

In 2019, Gallup is returning to its 1938-2008 practice of reporting job approval ratings from its discrete, multiday surveys.

Gallup's latest presidential approval rating will continue to be found on News.Gallup.com in the following locations:

In 2008, Gallup's national Random Digit Dialing (RDD) telephone samples included cellphone interviews for the first time, with most interviews still conducted on landline telephones. The proportion of cellphone interviews has since steadily increased.

Recent Notes

Gallup briefly reported 40% Trump job approval for Dec. 16-22, 2018, but replaced this with 39% job approval for Dec. 17-22, 2018, to be more consistent with our Monday-Sunday weekly averages. Gallup did not interview on Dec. 23, 2018.

President Donald Trump has a 53% approval rating on his handling of the economy, about the same as in August. His ratings for handling foreign affairs, immigration and healthcare are significantly lower.